John McGinn was one of the top summer transfer targets for Nottingham Forest who got away.

The Reds made a hat-trick of bids for Hibernian’s Scotland international, with the final offer thought to be around the £2m mark.

But they failed to land the highly-rated 22-year-old midfielder before the transfer window closed, leading to frustration at the City Ground.

Here, we take a look at how McGinn has done since then, while it remains to be seen if Forest will launch another bid for him in January.

Has the speculation over his future affected his form for Hibs?

In one word, no.

The youngster said he was happy to still be at Hibs when the transfer window closed, despite the interest from Forest, and he looks to have continued the impressive form that led to Mark Warburton trying to sign him.

Hibs boss Neil Lennon, who values McGinn at £5m, described him as “a different class” in his very first match after the transfer window closed, in a 1-1 draw with St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership.

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And McGinn responded, by saying: “It’s always nice to hear. I would have been happier with the win. I was pleased with my personal performance but it was disappointing not to get the three points after playing really well.”

McGinn has played in every league match for Hibs since staying put in Scotland, playing a key role in a four-game unbeaten run that has lifted them up to fifth place in the top flight ahead of facing leaders Celtic today.

And he’s confident they can give Celtic “a nosebleed” and end their domestic unbeaten run which stands at 57 matches.

John McGinn in action for Hibernian (Image: Getty)

“We are full of confidence and disappointed not to be even higher up in the table because I think we have played really well recently,” said McGinn.

“So we’ll look forward to playing Celtic and hopefully giving them a nosebleed.

“It will take belief. I think a lot of teams that play Celtic rightly respect them — but they take it too far.

“We are going to go there and have a real go. We’ll be trying to win.

“It’s not going to be easy and Parkhead is a difficult place to go, but we want to be the team that finally breaks that record.